


Two Empty Places at the Bar

by SifaShep



Series: The Quarian and the Infiltrator [13]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Character Death, F/M, commander remy shepard, kaidan as a guardian angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-25
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-29 00:36:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6351895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SifaShep/pseuds/SifaShep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Takes place 45+ years after the end of ME3.</p><p>Commander Remy Shepard makes the ultimate sacrifice to save innocent lives, but he’s never alone. Break out the tissues; this one’s a doozy.</p><p>Mentions of previous fics: Afterlife, Hope Springs Eternal, Kaidan Alenko, Guardian Angel (all three now here on Ao3)</p><p>First POV is Tali’s. The second is Shepard’s.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Empty Places at the Bar

_I don’t know how to tell you this._

Tali’s heart stopped at the words. Her hands trembled at Steve Cortez’s words. A gentle hand fell on her shoulder; her son-in-law’s talons gently grasped her skin. She smiled up at Darius Vakarian…so much like his father, Garrus Vakarian.

“Tell me, Steve. Is Remy all right?”

Cortez hesitated and she feared the worst. Finally, he said, “Garrus and Shepard managed to get the ship away from the blast zone, but they were still on the outer fringes of it when the bomb went off. The shock wave still hit them.”

“Oh, _Keelah_ –”

“The blast was electromagnetic, not nuclear, Tali. It shorted out all their electrical systems, mechanical  _and_ organic. If they’d been in the red zone, it would have instantly killed them. But even on the outer edges, there were casualties.”

An organic being’s nervous system was just like a ship’s energy layout. The EMP blast would have disrupted a person’s brain, halted all the electrical impulses that kept the heart and other organs alive. Tali shook her head in denial, but she had to ask.

“How many people did they lose?”

“Garrus was in the weapons bay; the armory was deep in the shadows of the main gun. That’s the only thing that saved him.Your husband…Shepard…he was helping in Engineering, and the force of the wave shorted out the shields there.”

“Oh…oh no–” Tali felt faint. Neural shock, an instant of pain before the end. Her mind went into overdrive…had he suffered much? Or had he lingered on, fighting, until blackness took him?

Darius’s hand tightened on her shoulder and forced her back to the present.

“Oh Keelah…is he–? Is Remy dead?”

“He’s still alive, but Tali…his implants from Cerberus took a bad hit. The doctors are doing all they can, but…I think you’re better get to Huerta. Fast.”

*****  
Words spread fast through the family and they all gathered on the Citadel to support Tali. Her adopted daughter, Maddie and her husband, Darius Vakarian. Her adopted son Jona'Dorn vas Rannoch and his wife Ghera'Reegar. Tali’s grandchildren, Aurelius Vakarian, Linah Vakarian-Cortez and Miri'zorah Reegar.

They were all there, to say farewell to the patriarch of their family.

The surviving crew of the Normandy also rushed to help. Liara and Urdnot Wrex, of course, were at the forefront. Samantha Traynor and James Vega, Ashley Williams and Jack and Jacob Taylor. By the time Tali arrived at Huerta Memorial, friends and well-wishers occupied a whole waiting room. Maddie cried out in alarm as she went to her mother’s side.

“You made it! We were worried that–” Maddie broke off, as if the thought was too terrible. “Jona’s with Dad now; Uncle Steve and Uncle Joker’s with him.”

“Take me to him, Maddie. Your Uncle Garrus?”

“He’s okay…just out of surgery, but he’s out of it.” She looked up at Darius. “They’ve had a hard time getting him to calm down. They finally had to sedate your father, Dar.”

Darius chuckled and shook his head. “He’s always been so stubborn. Go with your mom; she needs you, Maddie.”

Tali managed to keep one foot ahead of the other. _Just keep going…he’s faced worse odds before. He’ll pull through. He has to._ Nearly forty-five years of marriage, and Shepard had faced death countless times. That didn’t count the one time he _had_ died, and Tali had spent two years in a numb hell.

Ironically, the Cerberus modifications that saved his life then were killing him now.

Even if Miranda Lawson were still alive, Tali doubted she could do much to help. Shepard had complained of being tired even before this happened. He knew enough about technology; even the most advanced implants of their time had a limited shelf life.

Steve Cortez got to his feet as they entered the room. The dark hair now all silver, laugh wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Jeff ‘Joker’ Moreau only nodded at Tali, his frail-looking frame seemed even more delicate as he sat in the chair.

Remy Shepard lay quiet and still in the bed, his face pale, his breathing labored. Jona looked up at his sister and mother. His sad eyes told them everything they needed to know.

Tali ignored the medical monitors around them as she took the chair that Joker offered. “We’ll be right outside, Tali,” Joker whispered.

She only nodded as she took Shepard’s hand. A flash of memory passed across her mind: after the Crucible, after he had blown the Reapers to hell, how he lay unconscious for weeks in that London hospital, and how he had beaten the odds.

_It’s been one hell of a ride._

He stirred a little and managed to open his eyes. “Tali,” he whispered hoarsely.

“I’m here, _cherie,_ ” she whispered back, using his nickname for her. “Maddie and Jona too.”

“Garrus…the others–”

She swallowed a sob. So much like him, to be concerned for others first. Jonah answered, “Uncle Garrus is in recovery, Father. You saved almost all the people on that ship. They’re all right.”

He sighed in relief and visibly relaxed. The dark blue eyes focused briefly on her, as he struggled to keep conscious. So much in that one look: gratefulness, bittersweet memory, love. He was reliving every moment of more than forty-five years.

His eyes flickered towards Jonah, then Maddie, who was openly weeping now. “No..regrets?”

“None, Remy. None at all.” She brought his hand to her face. “I love you so much.”

“ _Keelah_ … _se'lai_ …Tali…love you so…”

His eyes widened, as if he saw something that she couldn’t see. Surprise, joy, happiness. She caught a glimpse of that young commander of long ago, in that Citadel back alley, before Saren, before becoming a Spectre, before Cerberus and before the Reapers.

Seeing that joy on his face one last time made her smile through her tears.

He gasped, his chest shuddering on the exhale..then it didn’t rise again.

The monitor flatlined, a mournful note that echoed in the dim hospital room. Maddie burst out in tears; Jonah drew his sister into his arms. Tali bowed her head over him, her own tears running down her pale face.

The love of her life was gone.

*****  
“God damn it, Shepard. Knew you’d go out doing something heroically stupid.”

He rolled his eyes at the mercenary at his hospital bed.  Dark blond hair, check. Two dark emerald eyes, check. The trusty rifle Jessie at his side. Check. Younger, but just as familiar.

“You been waiting for me all this time, Zaeed?”

“Bugger all to do here. Your buddy’s on his way…had to file some mission report. With all the crap you’ve put him through, you would’ve given him a bloody coronary, if he weren’t already dead.”

“So instead of him waiting for me, they sent _you_? Am I going to Hell?”

“I’m surprised that _I’m_ not down there. God only knows I deserve it many times over, instead of hangin’ out with you paragons of virtue.” Zaeed Massani lit up a ghostly cigar. “Though overhearing your pal’s cursing over the years, I _know_ what kinda angels you both are.”

An amused voice broke into the banter. “I _heard_ that, Massani. God, you’re such a bastard.”

Shepard laughed as Kaidan Alenko stepped into his line of vision. The two had never met each other in the living world–Kaidan was gone on Virmire long before Shepard had ever recruited Zaeed–but somehow it didn’t surprise him that these two were in cahoots with each other here.

“I think you’ve done a good job in keeping me in one piece, Kaidan. Thanks.”

“Hey, what’re friends for?” Kaidan took a weary breath, sighed. “I am _never_ gonna sign up for this job ever again.”

“Never say never. And maybe, it’ll _me_ keeping _you_ in line the next time around.”

Zaeed laughed, “I wanna _see_ that. You’d be surprised at what shenanigans I’ve been teachin’ your friend here, Shepard.”

“On second thought…” Shepard chuckled, but that humor faded as he managed to see Tali’s distraught face at the corners of his vision. His heart seized painfully in his chest; he had to leave her alone.

Kaidan shook his head. “It’s okay, Shepard. You’ll see her soon. I promise.”

Bittersweet sadness filled him but that promise eased the pain somewhat. He felt the last bonds of his mortal existence fade away, then he was free.

_Finally._

“That’s it? I guess I was expecting more–”

Zaeed snorted. “What? Tunnel of light? Music and rainbows and little bunnies hoppin’ about? Disappointed, Shepard?”

“Not really.” He chuckled and looked at the bar in the near distance. This time he felt right, that he belonged here. Shepard noticed familiar faces there, but there were two places that were conspicuously empty.

_If this goes sideways, and we both end up there, meet you at the bar._

_After time adrift among open stars, along tides of light and through shoals of dust, I will return to where I began._

He didn’t mind waiting this time.

**FIN**

**Author's Note:**

> The Shepard/Zorah family tree in this universe:
> 
> Rael'Zorah (father of Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch (vas Normandy vas Neema nar Rayya)/Tali'Zorah Shepard)
> 
> Patrick Etienne Shepard (father of Commander Remy Shepard)  
> Madeline Chloe Charbonneau (mother of Commander Remy Shepard)
> 
> Remy Etienne Shepard m. Tali'Zorah vas Rannoch*  
> Jona'Dorn vas Rannoch* (adopted son)  
> Madeline Shepard* (adopted daughter)  
> (Remy also has a biological son he never knew about. But that's another story)*
> 
> Jona'Dorn vas Rannoch* m. Ghera'Reegar (daughter of Kal'Reegar)  
> Miri'Zorah vas Rannoch (daughter)
> 
> Madeline Shepard* m. Darius Vakarian (daughter of Garrus Vakarian and Nyreen Kandros)  
> Aurelius Vakarian (son)  
> Linnah Vakarian-Cortez (m. adopted son of Steve Cortez)


End file.
